Should You Buy Fresenius Medical Care AG (FMS) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.
Conclusion
Hold
Latest Price
22.520
1 Day change
1.49%
52 Week Range
30.460
Analysis Updated At
2026/01/28
Not a good buy right now for a beginner long-term investor who wants to deploy capital immediately. Despite improving 2025/Q3 fundamentals, the stock’s primary trend is still bearish (downtrend structure via moving averages) and Wall Street sentiment has deteriorated with multiple target cuts and a key downgrade. I would hold off on buying now and only reconsider after the stock proves a trend reversal (e.g., reclaiming/holding above the 20-day and improving relative strength).
Technical Analysis
Price/Trend: FMS closed at 21.78 (-1.03% regular session; -1.85% post-market), sitting essentially on the Pivot (21.779), which is a key near-term decision level.
Momentum: MACD histogram is slightly positive (0.0195) and expanding, suggesting early stabilization, but it is not strong enough to override the broader downtrend.
RSI: RSI(6) at 48.4 is neutral—no oversold bounce signal.
Moving Averages: Bearish stack (SMA_200 > SMA_20 > SMA_5) indicates the dominant trend remains downward.
Levels: Support at S1 21.185 (then S2 20.818). Resistance at R1 22.373 (then R2 22.74). A convincing move above ~22.37 and holding would be the first technical improvement; breaking below ~21.18 increases downside risk.
Pattern-based short-term bias: Similar-pattern statistics imply mildly negative drift over 1D/1W/1M (-0.56% / -0.6% / -0.42%).
Options Data
Bullish
Open Interest Put-Call Ratio
Bullish
Option Volume Put-Call Ratio
Sentiment from positioning: Open interest put/call ratio of 0.42 is call-heavy (more bullish positioning than bearish).
But trading activity: option volume is effectively zero today (put-call volume ratio 0.0 with 0 volume), so the signal is weak/illiquid and not a strong real-time sentiment read.
Volatility: 30D implied vol is elevated (~75.9) vs historical vol (~29.0), implying the options market is pricing significant uncertainty; for a beginner long-term buyer, this argues against rushing into an entry on this tape.
Technical Summary
Sell
6
Buy
5
Positive Catalysts
2025/Q3 showed strong year-over-year improvement (revenue and earnings up), supporting the long-term business quality.
Non-discretionary nature of dialysis services can support resilience versus more cyclical industries.
Options open interest is skewed bullish (call-heavy), though not confirmed by actual volume.
Neutral/Negative Catalysts
and the stock is failing to show sustained upside momentum.
Financial Performance
Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3.
Revenue: 5.71B, +9.17% YoY.
Net income: 321.2M, +37.23% YoY.
EPS: 1.10, +37.50% YoY.
Gross margin: 25.43%, +5.61% YoY.
Takeaway: Fundamentals improved meaningfully in 2025/Q3 (growth and margin expansion), but the market is currently prioritizing forward-looking 2026 headwind risk and the chart remains in a downtrend.
Growth
Profitability
Efficiency
Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends
Recent trend: Clear deterioration. Multiple firms cut price targets in January 2026, including Citi (EUR 48.5 -> 39.5), Deutsche Bank (EUR 46 -> 44), Morgan Stanley (EUR 37 -> 36; reiterated Underweight), and Goldman downgraded from Buy to Neutral with a large target cut (EUR 55 -> 40). Truist remains Hold with a modest USD target increase earlier (to $28).
Wall Street pros: Defensive, non-discretionary healthcare service; solid cash flow; recent quarter showed strong YoY earnings and margin improvement.
Wall Street cons: Expected 2026 operational/policy headwinds (volume growth concerns, benefit reversals, potential ACA-related pressure, added costs) and repeated target reductions suggest limited upside conviction near-term.
Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals: - [AI Stock Picker](module://ai_stock_pick): No signal on given stock today. - [SwingMax](module://swingmax): No signal on given stock recently.
Wall Street analysts forecast FMS stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FMS is 25 USD with a low forecast of 22 USD and a high forecast of 28 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
2 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast FMS stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FMS is 25 USD with a low forecast of 22 USD and a high forecast of 28 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
0 Buy
1 Hold
1 Sell
Moderate Sell
Current: 22.190
Low
22
Averages
25
High
28
Current: 22.190
Low
22
Averages
25
High
28
Morgan Stanley
Aisyah Noor
Underweight
downgrade
AI Analysis
2026-01-27
New
Reason
Morgan Stanley
Aisyah Noor
Price Target
AI Analysis
2026-01-27
New
downgrade
Underweight
Reason
Morgan Stanley analyst Aisyah Noor lowered the firm's price target on Fresenius Medical to EUR 36 from EUR 37 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares.
Deutsche Bank
Hold
downgrade
2026-01-26
New
Reason
Deutsche Bank
Price Target
2026-01-26
New
downgrade
Hold
Reason
Deutsche Bank lowered the firm's price target on Fresenius Medical to EUR 44 from EUR 46 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares.
Unlock Full Analyst Thesis, Get the complete breakdown of rating reason for FMS